NASA Roadshow visits Toledo to help local companies

The NASA Roadshow, an innovative approach to economic development and job creation, visited Toledo June 12 to help area companies solve their technical challenges.

The Roadshow made its local stop at the Tom and Elizabeth Brady Innovation Center the the University of Toledo’s engineering campus to report how it has assisted several local companies. Toledo was one of two stops the Roadshow made in Ohio with the other visit to Youngstown.

NASA chose Toledo and Youngstown based on the specific technical challenges facing local companies that would benefit from the brainpower, research capabilities and resources at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.

“Ohio really understands it and has taken a leadership role in this program. We intend to remain active in Ohio,” said Diana Hoyt, program executive for innovation and strategic partnerships in the office of the chief technologist at NASA headquarters, who spoke at the event.

The Roadshow is part of a federally funded, three-year experimental program developed to comply with a White House directive that NASA and other federal agencies accelerate their technology transfer activities by making the benefits of its research and development investments available to private enterprises.

“NASA is here to help companies develop new technologies using the NASA brand,” Hoyt said.

Several businesses from Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan were given an opportunity to spend eight hours with NASA experts in their field to address the challenges they face. Hoyt called upon some of those businesses in attendance to relate their experience to the Roadshow audience at UT.

A team from Cooper Tire & Rubber Company in Findlay said they met with two highly trained experts to discuss how NASA’s expertise could help the company create simulations of solutions to meet their manufacturing challenges.

A representative from Metal Forming and Coining Corp. in Maumee looked to NASA’s expertise to help the company improve efficiencies in the manufacturing process for automotive components.

NASA provided some mechanical expertise to H & H Specialties of Temperance, Michigan, for production of “green” foam products for the pharmaceutical industry.

Two other companies that received technical expertise from NASA included Henny Penny Corp. of Eaton, Ohio, and SkyLife Technology Holdings LLC of Toledo. SkyLife Technology developed a new disaster relief distribution system that could get aid to disaster victims quicker.

Four other area companies have been invited to the Glenn Research Center to receive help from NASA scientists, including a second division of Cooper Tire, Hirzel Canning Company in Northwood, SPB Global LLC in Perrysburg, and Nextronex Inc. which operates out of incubator space at UT.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity to work with NASA about our technology. It’s good for the Northwest Ohio region,” said Susan Bernard, founder and director of business development for SPB Global.

SPB Global is a distribution company for the aerospace industry that is developing wearable technology and seeking a patent with aerospace applications, Bernard said.

NASA engineers will assist seven additional companies with on-site visits or teleconferencing to include Akadeum Life Sciences of Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor Aircraft of Adrian, AV3 Limited of Columbus, Mennel Milling Company of Fostoria, Plastic Technologies Inc. of Holland, Rowmark LLC of Findlay and SFC Graphics of Toledo.

“NASA can help move these businesses forward by providing its technical expertise,” said Keith Burwell, CEO of the Toledo Community Foundation, which cultivated a relationship with NASA which led to these opportunities.

Jim Garrett, CEO of Vadxx Energy in Cleveland, spoke about how NASA contributed engineering expertise for a simulation of a kiln process to recycle plastic waste into energy products. Rockwell Automation was a strategic partner with Vadxx on the design and engineering of the kiln process.

Garrett said that telling venture capital sources that they were working with NASA produced both unexpected and unintended results that led to increased investments in their company.

In addition to the Toledo Community Foundation, other organizers of the event included Lucas County Economic Development Corp, Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network, Northwest Ohio Manufacturing Expansion Partnership, Ohio Development Services Agency, Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce, UT Innovation Enterprises, and UT LaunchPad Incubation Program.

“Bringing the Roadshow to Toledo is the result of strategic relationship building by UT and regional partners. We hope for outcomes like this event to bolster economic development and job creation in the region,” said Jessica Sattler, director for economic engagement and business development programs. She also oversees the LaunchPad Incubation Program.

Burwell hosted the event and introduced the speakers. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur addressed the event on video. Lucas County Commissioner Carol Contrada thanked NASA for its contributions to the county. Toledo Mayor D. Michael Collins was scheduled to speak at the event but was unable to attend due to city business, Burwell reported.

Disaster relief technology founded in Toledo

The idea behind SkyLife Technology, a new disaster relief system invented and operated in Toledo, is simple, said President Andy Stuart. However, the work and science behind the new product aren’t simple feats, he said.

“SkyLife in and of itself not that complicated a concept; it’s just new,” Stuart said, later adding, “The genius is in its simplicity.”

Thousands of packets, which hold up to eight ounces each, can be placed in boxes, which are delivered by plane to disaster-stricken people who may not have access to roads. The flaps on top of the boxes are not sealed and a small parachute is anchored to the bottom of the box.

Once the box comes out of the plane, “The wind grabs the parachute and as the parachute is being yanked by the wind, because it’s anchored to the bottom, it turns the box upside down and with the flaps loose, the force yanks on the box and it jerks and all the flaps open and the packs fall out,” Stuart said.

Stuart and inventor Jeff Potter of Potter Technologies are currently at a U.N. conference in Geneva to promote SkyLife. They are slated to return around May 24. On May 13, SkyLife held a debut celebration, which included speeches by Rep. Marcy Kaptur and Mayor Mike Bell.

Working in the garage

The idea for SkyLife originated after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Potter said.

“As a former United States Marine, I knew our country could do much better to help victims of disasters,” Potter said in an email. In January 2010, Potter and some of his team began working on SkyLife in his father and chief engineer Terry’s garage as not to disrupt Potter Technology’s work flow.

Stuart, then regional market manager of Clear Channel in Toledo and longtime friend of Potter’s, came on as SkyLife’s president in December 2012.

Andy Stuart, president of SkyLife, holds one of its disaster relief packets, which can contain up to eight ounces.

At the grand debut, Kaptur joked, “I think that this particular microphone suits Andy Stuart much, much better than his old one.”

Stuart said there are some similarities between his new and old jobs.

“The idea is to introduce concepts and build relationships and trust, which is something that I’ve prided myself on all around Northwest Ohio,” he said.

SkyLife is necessary because when disaster relief supplies are delivered through large pallets, which drop down from planes, militants often steal the supplies, Stuart said.

“In all these conflicts, it’s the same story. It’s the young men or the men with guns that control the supplies and it really is a bedeviling project for the relief agencies and the United Nations,” Stuart said.

SkyLife aims to avoid this problem as the packets flutter down and are dispersed by the wind. Additionally, more than three packets at a time are hard to carry due to their slipperiness, Stuart added.

“SkyLife is not judgmental about who gets the supplies. SkyLife is the ultimate in democracy,” Stuart said.

Getting supplies in the hands of needy people could also quell distress, Stuart said.

“The panic sets in when they don’t have something to turn to,” he said.

Community of innovators

Kaptur, who had previously met with Stuart and Potter, applauded their efforts May 13.

“God forbid that the Middle East or any other unquiet place on this Earth fester up again; imagine the millions of people that such an innovation could help. It comes as no surprise to those of us who have chosen to spend our lives in this great region that this innovation could happen here. This is a community of innovators,” she said.

SkyLife could also bring hundreds of jobs to the region, Stuart said.

“We intend to make it here. The great thing about SkyLife is it was invented here; it will be made here and it will be distributed from here [to] around the world,” he said.

SkyLife has also partnered with BX Solutions, based at Toledo Express Airport, for logistical support. Relief and government agencies can store SkyLife Technology, which has a shelf-life of five years, in their warehouses for speedier deployment, Stuart said. He declined to give the price of SkyLife, but said it’s less expensive than what people are currently spending on disaster relief. SkyLife is privately funded, he also said.

It’s up to the aid agencies to determine what goes in the packs, but the possibilities are numerous— food, Mylar sheets to limit exposure, water and sanitary and medical supplies. Power packs may even be possible in the future, Stuart said.

Potter said, “Being able to develop continuity systems is increasingly the focus of disaster planning. SkyLife delivers rapid continuity, not just for food, water and shelter, but also access to information; SkyLife can deliver communication devices and the power to operate them. Also, SkyLife will devise and manufacture novel solutions to shelter that will be a major endeavor.”